A Comcast employee is charged with setting up fake 401(k)s to steal money from the cable provider.

A Comcast employee is charged with setting up fake 401(k)s to steal money from the cable provider. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

Alex WigglesworthOf Philly.com (TNS)

Authorities say Comcast worker set up dummy 401(k)s, stealing $125K from company

A former Comcast employee is facing federal charges for allegedly creating dummy retirement accounts and using them to bilk the company out of nearly $125,000.

Laura Wayne, 37, of Coatesville, administered 401(k) retirement accounts for Comcast Corporation employees between June 2010 and last January, according to charging documents filed Friday in U.S. District Court.

Beginning in April 2013, she allegedly used variations of relatives' names, along with their actual birth dates and Social Security numbers, to create fraudulent Comcast employee 401(k) accounts.

Prosecutors said Wayne entered dollar amounts into spreadsheets she sent to Fidelity Investments, which managed the retirement accounts, so that Comcast would put money into them.

She allegedly created fake online Fidelity accounts in the names of her relatives and used them to direct Fidelity to transfer funds from the dummy accounts to bank accounts she controlled.

In all, she's accused of defrauding Comcast of about $124,876.

Wayne has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud. If convicted, she faces a maximum possible penalty of 140 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $1.75 million fine, and a $700 special assessment.